1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic aggregation method, an automatic aggregation apparatus, and a recording medium having a program, stored thereon, for causing the automatic aggregation apparatus to execute the automatic aggregation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a plurality of records are automatically aggregated by, for example, first accumulating the plurality of records in a buffer memory and then sorting the plurality of records in accordance with a key parameter.
However, the above-described method has the following problems as the number of records to be aggregated increases: (i) a larger capacity buffer memory needs to be prepared; and (ii) it takes a longer period of time to sort the plurality of records.
Due to the widespread use of the Internet, there can be cases where hundreds of thousands of records sent from all over the world are accumulated in a computer of the aggregation center. The above-mentioned conventional method requires an unbearably long time period to aggregate such a great number of records.